


The Wants of Children

by BeesBeanie



Series: KakaIru Event Submissions [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Child!Kakashi, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Kid Fic, Melancholy, de-aged character, kinda angsty, seals master Iruka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:28:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25837297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeesBeanie/pseuds/BeesBeanie
Summary: Iruka has been entrusted with watching over a very important child.KakaIru Summer 2020 | Week 3 | Kid Fic
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Umino Iruka
Series: KakaIru Event Submissions [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1924447
Comments: 6
Kudos: 113
Collections: Nine Weeks of Summer 2020





	The Wants of Children

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the KakaIru 2020 Summer event!!
> 
> Week 3 - Kid Fic!
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Iruka was dumbfounded.

“As you can see,” Tsunade intoned, “we’ve got a little problem on our hands.”

“Yeah, I can see that…” Iruka muttered, more to himself. He crouched down in front of the wooden chair to get to eye level with the child. “My name’s Iruka. What’s yours?”

The child eyed him dubiously, glancing over at Tsunade to get approval before answering. “It’s Kakashi.”

“Kakashi, huh?” Iruka sighed but smiled. “How old are you?”

“I’m five but I’m almost six,” he said with all the pride an almost-six-year-old could muster.

Iruka glanced over the child’s head to look at his hokage. “I’m going to take a wild guess that I wasn’t called in for childcare.”

“Not entirely, no,” Tsunade sighed. “But it is convenient that our local seals master also happens to be good with children.”

Tsunade briefly explained the situation, omitting the finer details, of how Kakashi had returned from a mission with a mysterious scroll. Upon asking him to inspect the seal, a trap had been triggered and now one of their elite shinobi was not quite six years old.

“Kakashi, show Iruka-sensei your hand,” Tsunade ordered, to which Iruka frowned at the commanding tone. Unaffected, Kakashi held his right palm out, revealing a circular seal with the kanji for “secret” written in the center.

Iruka studied it for a moment, carefully holding the small hand in his grasp. He was momentarily distracted from his inspection to remember that this was Kakashi’s hand he was holding so gently. Only smaller. And not so calloused.

“Seen anything like it?” The hokage asked, a thread of concern coloring her voice.

Iruka nodded. “I’ve seen seals of this pattern before. I probably have some reference materials at home that could help me unlock it.”

Tsunade nodded from where she sat at her desk. “Good. You’ll have the rest of the next few days free of all duties. We’ll cover all of your shifts for you. Consider this your number one priority.”

“Understood, Hokage-sama.” Iruka bowed, head already turning over which scrolls and texts to filter through. He glanced down to the boy still seated in the chair, legs swinging idly.

“Where will Kakashi be staying?” He asked.

“He will be monitored by ANBU until we can solve this,” Tsunade said.

Iruka grit his teeth. “With all respect, Hokage-sama, that is not what I was asking. He’s a five-year-old boy, he needs proper supervision.”

“Are you volunteering?”

Iruka glanced down at the boy, staring at the seal on his hand and trying to rub at it with his thumb. Hours ago, he may have been one of Konoha’s elite, a legendary ninja with an impressive arsenal and fierce reputation, but now…

He was just a child.

And he was probably hungry.

“Kakashi-kun, do you want to get some dinner and stay at my house?” Iruka asked.

Kakashi looked up, startled to be acknowledged again. He glanced over to Tsunade once more and at her small nod he turned back to the teacher. “Okay. Can we have eggplant miso?”

Iruka chuckled and held out his hand for Kakashi to grab. “Sure thing, kiddo. We’ll go to the market on the way home.”

With that matter settled, Iruka and Kakashi made their way out of the tower and down the streets. People paid surprisingly little attention, but there was nothing immediately odd about Iruka walking with a child. He was often accompanied by students.

As promised, they stopped by the market on the way home, Kakashi’s eyes flicked to everything. He also seemed to be sniffing quite a lot, enough that Iruka had to ask if he had a cold.

“No,” Kakashi shook his head. “Papa says the Hatake have really strong noses, so we smell stuff super strong.” He held his hand up and patted his cheek. “He got me this mask ‘cause sometimes the smells make my nose hurt.”

“Huh.” Iruka nodded to himself. That was one mystery that didn’t need solving, but boy if that didn’t solve it.

Almost instantly Kakashi stopped, turning sharply, and dashed off to one of the far vendors without a word. Iruka hollered after him but the kid was fast!

“Hey, wait up!” Iruka yelled. Dammit, this is why they didn’t let children graduate early! They were too hard to catch!

Not a minute later, Iruka found his young charge kneeling by one of the stalls, holding out his hand to something unseen. Feeling this was important, Iruka hung back for a moment to watch. After a few tense moments a small mutt poked its head out from the low curtain to sniff at Kakashi’s fingers. Kakashi tentatively reached out to pet the small head before it carefully shied away.

Kakashi seemed to deflate a little before standing back up and brushing off his knees from dirt. He glanced around for a moment before locking eyes with Iruka and making his way over to him.

“Sorry,” he said, clearly not sorry.

Iruka smiled despite himself. “Come on, growing ninjas need their dinner.”

He took the little gurgle of Kakashi’s tummy as agreement.

Kakashi seemed to like Iruka’s apartment. He immediately did a scan of the sitting room, taking note of the traps on the windows and the overstuffed bookshelves. Iruka busied himself in the kitchen, setting rice in the cooker and some miso in a pot to get up to temperature. He thought about the seal.

Most seals found in traps had a key to release them, usually relating to whatever the seal was meant to trap. The word “secret” in the center of the seal indicated what it did, unfortunately in the vaguest sense possible.

Meaning it was a frustratingly good trap.

“Do you mind if I work while we eat?” Iruka asked, not wanting to keep Kakashi stuck as a child for longer than necessary.

Kakashi shook his head from where he appeared at Iruka’s elbow. “That’s okay. Are you making tempura?”

Iruka paused. “Would you like some with dinner?”

Kakashi seemed to consider this for a moment. “Hm… No. Mama always made the best and I don’t really like it when she doesn’t make it.”

Knowing what he did about Kakashi, this was another piece of the puzzle that was coming together. It did leave one large question, though.

“Kakashi-kun, what’s the last thing you remember before you met me in the Hokage’s office?”

The boy hummed for a moment, thinking. “I was sitting in the yard with Pakkun. Papa was gonna go on a mission so I was gonna have the pack with me all day.”

Iruka turned that over in his head before asking, “Do you remember the scroll at all? Or seeing Tsunade-sama?”

Kakashi shook his head. “I was gonna get some juice inside and then I was in a cloud of smoke and then I was in the Hokage office. I didn’t have my kunai which is bad ‘cause a ninja’s supposed to be ready.” He looked frustrated for a moment before the look smoothed out. “I know I’m still a genin but I should be ready for anything.”

“A genin…” Iruka had to hold himself still for a moment lest he yell or break something. Not even six years old and legally a field ninja.

Kakashi, however, looked extremely proud. “Yeah! Papa was so excited when I got my headband.” He reached up as if to touch it but paused when his hands met nothing but fluffy hair. “Oh… I think I left it on Pakkun…”

Iruka quickly rallied him into grabbing some spoons and bowls to distract him from the fact that his ninken wasn’t there. He didn’t know much about Kakashi at this age, but he knew how five-year-olds got when they started missing something.

Cranky. And Loud.

They sat themselves at the low table in the sitting room, Iruka pouring over scrolls and references while Kakashi played with some puzzle toys and number games.

The scrolls unfortunately went over most things Iruka already knew. The key was related to the center symbol and could be anything from a key word to an action, usually done by the one afflicted. Kakashi, unfortunately, was a man full of secrets on a good day, Iruka was hard pressed to figure out what exactly it wanted him to reveal.

After a few hours Iruka heard his young charge yawn loudly and he glanced up to see the boy falling asleep over a half-colored chakra diagram.

“Okay, time for bed,” Iruka said, standing up and walking behind Kakashi.

“M’not tired…” the boy yawned. “Gonna wait up for Papa…”

Iruka winced internally before reaching under the boy’s arms and hauling him up to stand, holding him as he wobbled. “It’s late Kakashi-kun, he’ll understand if you go to sleep while you wait.”

Kakashi looked up at him with trusting eyes, and Iruka was momentarily caught by how dark and earnest they were. “Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Iruka said, smiling as he ruffled Kakashi’s hair. Kakashi swatted him away weakly.

Iruka was fortunate enough to have a spare bedroom with a simple bed ready for guests. He took care to tuck the boy into bed, gently smoothing his fluffy hair out of his face. Kakashi watched him for a moment before he asked, “Iruka-sensei?”

“Yes?”

Kakashi hesitated before whispering, “Is it scary to be a ninja?”

Iruka stilled at the question and sighed. “Being a ninja is a really big job,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the biggest and scariest job there is.”

Kakashi stiffened at that, clutching his little hands in the sheets.

“But,” Iruka went on. “I’m really proud to be a ninja. Do you know why?”

Kakashi shook his head.

“Because being a ninja made me strong enough to protect the people I love. It gave me the strength to teach kids like you how to be strong, too. And I know I’m a part of a village that will fight to keep me safe just as much.” Iruka explained quietly. “Do you know about the will of fire?”

Kakashi nodded this time. “Papa always tells me about it. It’s what keeps our village strong and uni… un..”

“United,” Iruka finished for him with a smile. “That’s right. Being a ninja is like… You become the will of fire. It’s a lot of responsibility, and it can be hard, but it’s who we are and I wouldn’t change anything.”

Kakashi nodded as his eyes began to droop. “Sometimes… I don’t think I want to be a ninja,” he confessed quietly.

“You don’t have to be,” Iruka whispered, trying to be reassuring to the boy’s admission. He knew that if he said the wrong thing it could influence Kakashi when he reverted back to normal, but right now he was too focused on the child in front of him to care. “You can be anything you want.”

The boy looked at him for a moment before seeming to make up his mind. “I think… I think I want to be strong for my Papa. I wanna be just like him.”

“Even if he’s a ninja?” Iruka asked.

Kakashi nodded. “Yeah. Cause he’s strong for me, so I can be strong for him too. We’ll be super strong ninja together!”

Iruka laughed, trying not to let the whisper of sadness leak through. “That sounds like a great plan, Kakashi. I’m excited for when you get big and strong.”

“Yeah… I promise I’ll be really cool.”

Iruka chuckled before giving in and placing a soft kiss on the boy’s forehead. “I’m sure you will be.”

As he shut the door softly behind him, Iruka had to wonder if he responded well to Kakashi’s confession. Sure, Kakashi was an asset to the village, but behind that door was a child who was scared for the future. His life was moving at an incredibly fast pace and all he wanted was to share some time with his father.

Iruka sighed, trying not to get choked up.

He turned off the lamp and padded over to bed, exhausted from the day.

He fell asleep instantly.

In the dark of the night a large hand gently laid itself on Iruka’s temple, gently shifting the loose hair from his eyes. A lone dark eye considered him with a melancholy smile, “Thank you for hearing my secret, sensei.” The man leaned down, and in an echo of a sweet moment previously shared, placed a gentle kiss to the man’s forehead.

Iruka’s brow relaxed slightly, somehow knowing, even in sleep, that everything would be alright.

=x END x=

**Author's Note:**

> /Un-beta'd
> 
> Leave a kudos if you enjoyed! Leave a comment to kiss baby Kakashi's little head!
> 
> Links: [Twitter](https://twitter.com/GabesBeaniee) | [Tumblr](https://gabesbeanie.tumblr.com)


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